History ArbitrarySkepticism / WesternAnimation

''Western Animation / The Amazing World of Gumball'' In the episode, "The Oracle", gumball tells his mother, Nicole, that he does'nt want to go to the mall because Banna Barbara is seemingly precognitive, as shown by the many her paintings, to which Nicole disbelieves but complies anyway. This is coming from the same woman who 1: lives in a town filled with living inanimate objects, 2: a talking goldfish with legs as one of her sons, and 3: has a husband thag can warp reality and destroy the universe..... all by having a job. In her defense, banna barbara, and her whole family in general, has shown very little intelligence

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'', Peter says that he believes in ghosts, spooks, and specters, but he draws the line at believing in the Boogieman, who is, of course the MonsterOfTheWeek.

** In the same episode, [[AgentMulder Dipper]] is strangely the first one to point out that "bottomless pits can't exist" despite having fought gnomes and ghosts, traveled through time, and meeting [[MakesSenseInContext 8-and-a-halfth President of the United States]] before this point. And even better example comes the following season, when he rejects Soos's claims that the girl in a Japanese dating sim is alive, despite having dealt with a living video game character himself.

** Also in "Bender' s Big Score" we have this exchange:

** Likewise, the first episode with the sewer mutants has most people regard them as mythical, which is especially weird since later episodes establish that there are [[FantasticRacism laws restricting their legal rights]].
** Also in [[TheMovie the movie]] we have this exchange:

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Sari initially refuses to believe her dad's story about her being created from a liquid metal sphere he found in his lab. She voices this while riding inside a transforming, 20-foot tall, immortal alien robot from another planet whose heart is a magical crystal shard.

** There's also Danny's mother, an expert in the field of ghosts, finding ''Santa Claus'' to be a scientific impossibility. This actually makes sense because she has a tendency to approach the concept of ghosts from a scientific perspective, and while she accept ghosts exist, she probably does not believe in "magic".

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In one episode, Timmy refuses to believe in bad luck or any of the bad luck superstitions. You know, the kids with two RealityWarper friends?

** In "Bottomless Pit!" Grunkle Stan still states that the stories the twins and Soos tell to pass the time are far-fetched, even though he is falling through a bottomless pit even as he speaks, and even ''lived through'' one of the stories. [[spoiler:This is later subverted, as the second season reveals that he has always been perfectly been aware of the weirdness of the town. He just pretends to be oblivious to discourage the kids from pursuing it and because of his own general dislike for the supernatural.]]

** In the same episode, [[AgentMulder Dipper]] is strangely the first one to point out that "bottomless pits can't exist" despite having fought gnomes and ghosts, traveled through time, and meeting [[MakesSenseInContext 8-and-a-half President of the United States]] before this point. And even better example comes the following season, when he rejects Soos's claims that the girl in a Japanese dating sim is alive, despite having dealt with a living video game character himself.

** Other episodes show leprechauns ''are real'' and practically every other fantasy creature, albeit they appear briefly as gags.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'', when Cyborg admits to being scared of a BloodyMary {{Expy}}, the others laugh it off. When Cy angrilypoints out that [[HumanDemonHybrid Raven's dad is a demon]], she retorts that he doesn't waste time scaring kids. [[NoExceptYes Unless he's super bored]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Sari initially refuses to believe her dad's story about her being created from a liquid metal sphere he found in his lab. She voices this while riding inside a transforming, 20-foot tall, immortal alien robot whose heart is a magical crystal shard.

** [[TheSpock Sokka]] seems to have trouble with this one from time to time. The second season episode "The Swamp" is one good example, in which he refuses to believe that the swamp called forth spirits. When [[TheChick Katara]] points out that [[TheHero Aang]] has contacted spirits regularly (and he was once kidnapped by one and stuck in the spirit world), he dismisses it with "That's Avatar stuff; it doesn't count.", making a strange case of FlatEarthAtheist that's not atheistic at all. That said, [[spoiler:Sokka is hilariously right about the swamp, at least in regards to it "attacking" them: said attack actually came from local waterbenders bending the water inside the vines, who were miffed that said outsiders were chopping up their plants with machetes.]]

** [[TheSpock Sokka]] seems to have trouble with this one from time to time. The second season episode "The Swamp" is one good example, in which he refuses to believe that the swamp called forth spirits. When [[TheChick Katara]] points out that [[TheHero Aang]] has contacted spirits regularly (and he was once kidnapped by one and stuck in the spirit world), he dismisses it with "That's Avatar stuff; it doesn't count.",making a strange case of FlatEarthAtheist that's not atheistic at all. That said, [[spoiler:Sokka is hilariously right about the swamp, at least in regards to it "attacking" them: said attack actually came from local waterbenders bending the water inside the vines, who were miffed that said outsiders were chopping up their plants with machetes.]]

* In a very similar example to the above, one episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' had Spidey teaming up with Doctor Strange but not believing that anything that was happening was magic. He even invoked ClarkesThirdLaw as well. This was a bit more of a stretch since an earlier episode had Spider-Man teamed up with Thor and traveling to Asgard to fight Frost Giants and Loki and Thor getting [[ForcefulTransformation turned into a frog]] with no skepticism at all on the web-slinger's part.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': Kid Flash, despite living and working with superheroes that include [[BadassNormal Robin]], [[MakingASplash Aqualad]], [[SuperStrength Super]][[NighInvulnerable boy]], and [[PsychicPowers Miss Martian]], does not believe in magic, despite the fact where this trait comes up is in an episode where he is in the tower of a magician that has been alive for centuries and is constantly being put through magic escapades. More precisely, he does believe in the magician's power; however, he assumes [[DoingInTheWizard there is a scientific]] [[ClarkesThirdLaw explanation behind it]]. This is likely because one of the Flash's enemies uses advanced technology and claims it to be magic (and, in a CMOF, on of the enemies spying on him is using the EXACT SAME tech setup he was just talking about!). He grows out of it by the end of the episode. [[spoiler:After all, if you put a magic helmet on yourself and wind up inside the helmet talking to a guy who's recently died and a [[PowersThatBe Lord of Order]] who's currently possessing your body, wouldn't it be kind of stupid to continue to disbelieve magic? He does, however, take a while to admit it, simply because he doesn't want to admit to his teammates that he was wrong.]] He also has no problem with [[CuteWitch Zatanna]] or her father Zatara's magic in later episodes.

* In a very similar example to the above, one episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' had Spidey teaming up with Doctor Strange but not believing that anything that was happening was magic. He even invoked ClarkesThirdLaw as well. This was a bit more of a stretch since an earlier episode had Spider-Man teamed up with Thor and traveling to Asgard to fight Frost Giants and Loki and Thor getting [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a frog]] with no skepticism at all on the web-slinger's part.

** Janet "[[ComicBook/TheWasp Wasp]]" van Dyne thinks the idea of aliens is "just crazy". This from the girl who works with a [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor thunder god]], a [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk giant green monster-man]], and a [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica revived from cryostasis]] SuperSoldier on a regular basis, and can herself turn into a laws-of-aerodynamics-breaking WingedHumanoid. [[spoiler:She's wrong.]] {{Justified|Trope}} by the fact that Wasp was teasing her friend who didn't want to be thought of as crazy for thinking a strange object is alien.

** One episode shows Brock (and Doctor Venture) explicitly disbelieving in magic, despite the fact that their next-door-neighbor is a sorcerer who has used magic to save their lives several times. They believe it to be an unknown version of science. At the same time, Doc is currently existing in three different locations, one of them gooey.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', the characters tell Ord that "monsters aren't real" to keep him from being afraid of the dark. But the thing is, the show takes place in a MagicalLand that's ''full'' of creatures that could easily be described as monsters--including the titular dragons themselves!

* In a very similar example to the above, one episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' had Spidey teaming up with Doctor Strange but not believing that anything that was happening was magic. He even invoked ClarksThirdLaw as well. This was a bit more of a stretch since an earlier episode had Spider-Man teamed up with Thor and traveling to Asgard to fight Frost Giants and Loki and Thor getting [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a frog]] with no skepticism at all on the web-slinger's part.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': Kid Flash, despite living and working with superheroes that include [[BadassNormal Robin]], [[MakingASplash Aqualad]], [[SuperStrength Super]][[NighInvulnerable boy]], and [[PsychicPowers Miss Martian]], does not believe in magic, despite the fact where this trait comes up is in an episode where he is in the tower of a magician that has been alive for centuries and is constantly being put through magic escapades. More precisely, he does believe in the magician's power; however, he assumes [[DoingInTheWizard there is a scientific]] [[ClarksThirdLaw explanation behind it]]. This is likely because one of the Flash's enemies uses advanced technology and claims it to be magic (and, in a CMOF, on of the enemies spying on him is using the EXACT SAME tech setup he was just talking about!). He grows out of it by the end of the episode. [[spoiler:After all, if you put a magic helmet on yourself and wind up inside the helmet talking to a guy who's recently died and a [[PowersThatBe Lord of Order]] who's currently possessing your body, wouldn't it be kind of stupid to continue to disbelieve magic? He does, however, take a while to admit it, simply because he doesn't want to admit to his teammates that he was wrong.]] He also has no problem with [[CuteWitch Zatanna]] or her father Zatara's magic in later episodes.

* ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'': Mario knows that vampires don't exist, despite living in a universe with mushroom people, magic flowers, flying carpets, etc.

** [[TheSpock Sokka]] seems to have trouble with this one from time to time. The second season episode "The Swamp" is one good example, in which he refuses to believe that the swamp called forth spirits. When [[TheChick Katara]] points out that [[TheHero Aang]] has contacted spirits regularly (and he was once kidnapped by one and stuck in the spirit world), he dismisses it with "That's Avatar stuff; it doesn't count.",making a strange case of FlatEarthAtheist that's not atheistic at all.